On a journey...

Tuesday 27 December 2011 On my way again... reflections from the plane. Having boarded the plane from Amsterdam to Detroit, I find I have a moment to write will the plane slowly fills up. Being right after Christmas it’s no surprise that the plane is packed. Sat here I realised I have been a bit spoilt travel wise the past years. This plane has no individual tv screens and I find that quite sad really. Being a full day flight and knowing I’ll be absolutely exhausted when I arrive in Kansas City, I was looking forward to watching quite a few films and just chilling on the flight. But, although I do expect it to be a relaxing flight, there will be no film-marathon for me... I already read half my book on the flight from Stavanger to Amsterdam, and now I regret not having brought more books with me. 10 hours is a long time to fill.... Anyways, enough “sighing” for now. I’ll have to pack away my laptop...and who knows, I might get back to writing once we’re in the air. After all

I’m sat here in the living room at my parent’s house. Everyone has gone to bed and I am sat in the cosy living room surrounded by Christmas decorations and a lovely Christmas tree lighting up the room. It’s so nice to be home at Christmas. Too bad the snow that appeared a couple of days ago, melted away almost as quickly as it came, and today it’s been quite rainy and mild. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I love Christmas coz I get to remember Jesus coming to earth. And I get to spend quality time with family. I am amazed at how much time seems to fill just 3 days of celebrating. Tuesday seems ages away, and yet it’s only, well, 4 days till. And Tuesday I get on a plane and fly off to Kansas City for 3 weeks. Really looking forward to it. Excited to see friends again. Excited to go to the prayer room. Excited to have some time to just be refreshed and listen to God. Excited to go to the Abolition Summit. And excited for some time to just dial down and “be”. Hopefully I’ll manage to

I’m sat at the airport in Schiphol in Amsterdam. I just landed and decided to grab a bite to eat and a coffee before setting off on the journey to the YWAM base where I’ll spend the next week and a bit working on the Shine Seminar and going through the new staff orientation. I’ve felt a bit emotional the past days. I think it’s really sinking in that I’m going to be moving here, and the whole reality of having to start over (again) and build mostly new relationship and friendships (again) kind of overwhelms me. Especially when I’m around family which I love and miss when I’m gone. However, I am hoping being here these days will settle me a bit. I know this is all part of transition and so I keep pushing through. Well, outside it was pouring down with rain just a minute ago and my flight was delayed because of wind. I guess this is Dutch winter weather. Out of the window I do see a “De Oliebollerte” which I think is kind of like a Dutch doughnut place. It’s red and looks very

So many thoughts to write… I really need to, well rather, want to, write a final bit about my last week in Brazil and how it was to leave and final impressions. Not so much for anyone beyond myself reading this (since I mainly write for myself anyway), but so that I won’t forget. So that those memories and feelings can continue registered somewhere, even if I never read them again. I suppose it’s almost like filing; even if you never go back to what is filed away, at least it’s there, available, and you know where to find it if you wanted to. Wrapping up. So, final week in Brazil. It was lovely, sad, busy, impacting, and a time of wrapping up and getting closure. The last weekend of my time (I travelled on a Friday) most of the staff went off to do an evangelistic impact in Juazeiro do Norte. I had already decided not to go, and went away for a few days with my friends Peter and Selma and their children to a lovely flat in a place with a pool. It was a lovely retreat. Apart

Tuesday 15 November 2011 The airport seems to be the place…. for me to blog these days. Here I am yet again at an airport, Gatwick this time. One my way home from a week of visiting friends in the London area of England. It’s been a lovely 6 days. Catching up with friends and wishing I had longer, and entering into the day-to-day reality of a mother of 3. It’s been really good! I realize I haven’t really finished up Brazil yet. Strange. It seems like so long since I came back, yet it’s only a week and a bit. I really hope that in the next few days that I’ll be able to sit down properly and close up the time in Brazil and even post some photos. But even having just come back it really feels like I’m travelling full speed into the next thing. Suddenly everything is happening very quickly and I feel like I really need to get caught up with the whole swirl of moving to Amsterdam and leading the Shine seminar. Still, I choose to not get too overwhelmed as I have communicat