Christmas in Amsterdam

Our first Christmas in Amsterdam was such a beautiful surprise. We threw a little Christmas party in our apartment and invited everyone we've met so far. I didn't think anyone would come! But we had a good crowd of around 35 come by. There were people from all nations here (most of them people John has met in his language class) and lots of our new dutch friends, as well as most of our neighbors. It was so sweet meeting neighbors and seeing everyone connect.

We experienced so much love from our church in the states. We received 4 huge packages, all our christmas ornaments from home (some friends here for a wedding brought them along) and a pile of christmas cards from Joshua House. It has felt so amazing to know that people from home are thinking of us and praying for us. We also experienced so much love here. On Christmas Eve, some of our new dutch friends had us over for a candlelight dinner. We were blown away by their hospitality. We felt like we were family. I am reminded of a passage that I read a couple nights ago in one of Paul's letters: "Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well." That captures the welcome we've felt this Christmas.

We were also able to "Skype" often with our family in the states - we even got to watch some of our family open presents! That certainly took the edge off of not being with them this season. But even beyond that, my sister Emilee came to stay with us for a week. It helped me see the city anew taking her around and showing her this place that is starting to really feel like home. We have so much to be thankful for.

All in all, Christmas in Amsterdam has been a joy. Yes, we dearly miss family and friends, but at every turn we have felt the presence of God with us. There is something about being stripped away from all of your comforts and traditions that forces you to go to the meaning of Christmas: the coming of God into the world - the beginning of all our hopes and dreams come true.

Sinterklaas.

Amanda's Sinterklaas gift was inside this homemade treasure chest; it is now Grayson's favorite toy
Well, our first "Sinterklaas" has come and gone. Here in Holland they have a separate holiday apart from Christmas to celebrate St. Nicholas - the 4th century Turkish bishop known for his kindness to children & the poor. Today was his birthday, and it is the big gift-giving festival here, with a lot of unique and fun traditions. Amanda and I were fortunate enough to celebrate Sinterklaas with some Dutch friends, who taught us the traditions.

Many Dutch folks will celebrate on the evening of the 5th, the day before Sinterklaas's birthday. You get together with family or close friends, eat pea soup & peppernoten, sing songs, and of course exchange gifts. The gift giving is fun - but there are rules:

• You exchange names, so you're only responsible for one person. That way you can really spend a lot of time and creativity on the gift.
  
• You wrap the gift in a unique or silly or over-the-top kind of way, typically either reflecting the person's personality or going along with the them of the gift inside.
  
• Then you write a poem for the person - it is supposed to make fun of the person (in a kind way, of course!), while at the same time giving hints as to what the gift is.
• Then going in turn, each person first reads out loud the poem written for them, then opens their gift.
• You're not allowed to tell anyone who you had - sortof like "secret santa" - even after the person opens the gift!

The entire process is so much fun. And we had a blast last night, giving and receiving gifts, laughing at the poems (and in my case, people laughing at me as I had to read mine in Dutch!), and always saying, "Dankje, Sinterklaas" after each present. I think that everyone should implement part or all of the Sinterklaas tradition into their Christmas gift-giving!

All of that though - the wrapping, the writing of poems, etc. - is mostly for adults. The kids get to celebrate in another way. On the evening of the 5th, they put their shoes out (nowdays by the radiator) with treats for Sinterklaas's horse stuffed inside. Come the morning of the 6th, their shoes will be filled with cookies/candies/gifts...sortof like our stocking tradition. So for kids in Holland, it is the morning of the 6th, not the morning of the 25th, that is exciting. They wake up early and run to find what Sint has left for them.

We couldn't resist - even though Grayson is way too young to remember, understand, or even care, we set out one of his little shoes. So this morning he had his favorite teething-cookie and a little present from Sinterklaas waiting for him underneath the radiator. He got his first train set; Great-grandpa Gemeinhart will be happy. He hasn't quite figured out that the trains are meant to ride on the tracks, or for that matter that the tracks aren't merely handy teething toys.



So now we are officially Sinterklaas veterans. I feel more dutch having experienced it.

If you're interested in the evolution from the Dutch Sinterklaas to the American Santa Clause, or even just the Sinterklaas tradition in general, go here or here.

Tot ziens!
John

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.

Moving into Stage Two

Amanda, Grayson and I have been in Amsterdam now for a little over six weeks. While we are certainly still in a bit of a "honeymoon" phase, enjoying all of the little quirks of a different culture and city, the first official stage of our life here is coming to a close.

I would call this first stage, "settling in." Getting settled has involved:

• becoming comfortable moving around the city (bikes, trams, metros, etc.)
• making our apartment a home
• learning how to live every day life, such as buying groceries

Though our learning curve will continue, there is only so long one can spend merely getting settled. It is time to move on to Stage Two.

Let's call stage two, "language learning." Similar to settling in, language learning will be something that takes quite a while - it will actually take our entire time here. But, these next few months will be devoted to spending the vast majority of time to the process of language acquisition.

Here is a brief description of what (we expect) our lives will be like. I will be in class four days a week, for four to five hours a day. Amanda will spend that time with Grayson (as he is doing some language acquisition of his own!), and will potentially be able to develop some friendships that she's made so far. I'm expected to put in as much time studying per week as I am in class, so Amanda and I will do a fair bit of studying together. That way not only will we get to spend time together, but she'll be able to get a head start for when she starts classes next quarter. For the most part, the only other things that we will be able to give our time to is our team, small group, and church.

Please be praying for us, because we're about to enter into a very busy and diffucult time! But we are incredibly grateful, because without the Lord's provision this certainly wouldn't have been possible. About a week ago we thought that we would both have to wait until February to start language school...but here we are.

And God has been so good to have blessed us with an incredible weekend as we are ending Stage One. We got to spend time with our team: eating homemade Chipotle burritos together, talking about church, and laughing a lot.

We also got to visit a great bookstore in town, Amsterdam's version of "Barnes & Noble." Grayson loved the Kinderboeken section. We even bought him his first Dutch book. On the way home from the bookstore, the little guy fell asleep in the bike seat for the first time! In a proud parenting moment, Amanda even got him all the way upstairs and into his crib still sleeping.

But the highlight of the weekend by far was the arrival to the Netherlands of Sinterklaas. Yes, today is the day that the "Sint's" steamboat from Spain docked in Amsterdam. He, along with his helpers, paraded through the streets to much joy of all the children - most of whom were dressed for the occasion. Grayson will never remember this, of course, but we got plenty of pictures to prove to him that he saw Sinterklaas when he was a baby.

All I have to say is, I feel sorry for those of you in America waiting until Thanksgiving day to see Santa ride his over-sized sleigh through the streets of NYC. We've got the real guy here in Amsterdam! And yes, this is a picture that we took of Sinterklaas as he rode by...

Be sure to check out our facebook pages over the next couple days, as we're sure to upload a ton of more pictures from the last week or so. You're not gonna want to miss some of the Grayson pics - way too cute!

UPDATE: For a great description of my first day in language school, along with the very philosophical question, "what would you say," please read Julia's blog entry for the day.

Exodus 33:15

As we enter into this new era of American politics, it is clear that hope in some is mingled with anxiety & fear in others. This dividing line is seen almost as starkly in the Church as it is among party lines.

I'd like to share an open letter to President-elect Obama by my pastor back home in Columbus, Rich Nathan (though I know many of you have already read it...likely on Facebook). It is a very gracious letter while at the same time calling President Obama into a Christ-like model of leadership.

His encouragement to the future President, as well as reminder to us who are followers of Jesus, that "whithout God's help we cannot succeed," and "with God's help we cannot fail," should be written on our hearts...no matter who holds the highest office of our nation.

It reminds me of the beautiful passage in Exodus, when Moses pleads with God: "If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here..." Let that prayer unite us, Christians. Let's place our hopes squarely on the throne of Jesus, and lay our fears at his feat.

President Obama, on behalf of the Vineyard Church of Columbus, I offer our sincerest congratulations and encouragement as you assume the awesome task of providing leadership for our country and our world. As a Jewish-Christian pastor of a congregation that includes blacks and whites, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans, the able-bodied and the disabled, old and young, rich and poor, Republican and Democrat, we come together now to support you as our president. We pledge to pray for you. Without God’s help we cannot succeed; with God’s help we cannot fail.

The greatness of our nation will continue to be measured by our treatment of the least and the last. In our country the least and the last surely include the unborn and their mothers, immigrants, the medically uninsured, and those who still go to bed hungry in this land of abundance. Our congregation urges you to fulfill your commitment to reduce the number of abortions in our nation. Around the world, America is our brothers’ keeper of those suffering in the Darfur and the Congo. Please work on behalf of those enslaved by global sex trafficking, the billion people who live on less than $2 a day, and those who are the victims of religious persecution. As you lead, remember Jesus’ words: “As you have done to the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me.”

America has an extraordinary capacity to reinvent herself, rarely more so than in this election. We remain the screen upon which the world projects its greatest hopes and its most noble aspirations. Live a life worthy of our hopes. Be a reconciler. Be a peacemaker. May God bless you and your family. And may America bless God and the world.

As we continue to pursue the Kingdom of God and his righteousness in our nation and abroad, we should all commit - with Rich - to pray blessing on the President and his family, no matter our political affiliation or ideology.

St. Martin's Day

On a much lighter note, tomorrow is St. Martin's day! Time to make your paper lantern and go from door to door singing songs and collecting candy...oh wait, we don't do that in the States. Did you even know there was such a thing as St. Martin's day? Did you even know there was a Saint called Martin? There is so much I have missed out on in life because a) I'm American and b) I'm not Catholic. But now as an American Protestant living in Amsterdam I get to enjoy it all!

Love from across the Sea,
John