Biggabeckuhbemma

Some notes from the low countries:

• Grayson's new favorite word is "biggabeckuhbemma." Last week it was "buh." He's advancing fast - he's already learned the Dutch art of compounding smaller words into endlessly long ones. Here are some great examples.
• Amanda took Grayson to the pool today for his first swimming lesson! They had a great time, and he even successfully went all the way under the water.
  
• My brain is fried from trying to learn almost 200 Dutch words a week. Two weeks down, five years to go.
• Check out Brooke's blog post, "re-creating a holiday in holland" for an account of our Thanksgiving here in Amsterdam.
  
• Sinterklaas is this weekend, and the whole city is going crazy for it. The "Sint" and two zwarte Pieten even came into our class today, handing out peppernoten. Yum!
  
• Eric preached at the Utrecht Vineyard this past weekend, and just hit the ball out of the park! I'm so glad to be a part of this team...
• Yesterday was the first Sunday in Advent - the anticipation and hope of the coming of Jesus into the world. Here is the prayer for the day (slightly revised by me), from the Common Book of Prayer:

Almighty God, give us grase that we may cast away the works of darkness and put upon us the armor of light - now in the time of this mortal life, in which your son Jesus the Messiah came to visit us in great humility - that in the last day, when he shall come again in glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to immortal life. Through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

And now, the rest of the story...

If you read the previous post before I updated it, you didn't hear the end of the story: we made it to AFAC yesterday afternoon, and they had our bikes! I don't think I realized how much I missed my bike until I got it back...we're SO EXCITED!

I took a few pictures with Brooke's mobile, which she had lent to us for our trip, but unfortunately I must not have pushed the right button, because only a couple of them came out. Here is one after we reclaimed our bikes:Behind us is the lot where AFAC stores all of the confiscated bikes. It had at least a couple thousand bikes there...unreal.

So there ya go. This story had a happy ending.

Moving Day

Exactly two weeks ago today Amanda, Grayson and I hopped on a plane that brought us to Amsterdam. We've been so graciously hosted for these 14 days by Brooke and Allie, living in Allie's loft bedroom. It has been wonderful...but now it is time to move into our own home! This afternoon at 6pm (or, for you eastern time-zoners, 12pm) we sign the contracts on our first apartment here in the city.

This whole process seems to have been simply guided by the Grace of Jesus. We found an apartment quickly, it is in a great neighborhood, the price is perfect for our budget, and it has everything that we need. Plus it is geographically situated en route from the Pickerill's apartment to Brooke & Allie's. We are only a short bike ride from a great outdoor market, the center of the city is about 10 minutes away, and all of the shops we would need for everyday living are on our block. What more could we have asked for?

The neighborhood that we are moving to is called the "Rivierenbuurt," and it has its own distinct feel, as each neighborhood does in Amsterdam. Feel free to read about it here or here.

Because we are just moving in today, we will be sans internet for a couple days; though getting our modem is high on the priority list. Once we get settled, we'll be sure to post pictures of the apartment.

If you are interested in our mailing address, contact us and we'll be sure to get it to you!

Love and miss you all.