Just Married!!!

The wedding was beautiful! Many thanks to all who were thinking of us and praying for us yesterday. The ceremony in the City Hall was nice, but most special was the service in the church. The acoustics in the building were magnificent. We walked into the church to "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," and then sang several congregational songs. The music and voices blended so nicely in the building; the atmosphere was very worshipful and wonderful. Bro. David Eijbersen preached a fine sermonette, and the wedding ceremony went well. At the end of the ceremony, Liesbeth and I knelt at the old-style prayer bench in the front of the church; our fathers came forward and joined Bro. David as he prayed a blessing over us. He really prayed; it was a special time. Then he presented us to the church as Mr. and Mrs. Rapp Crook. I looked back at him rather alarmed ... he'd forgotten the kiss! But that problem was happily remedied, and we were presented more officially as husband and wife to the family and friends gathered together.
Liesbeth and I went with the photographer to a beautiful rose garden in Boskoop (a town nearby Waddinxveen) for pictures. The garden was beautiful. (Pictures will be forthcoming.) Then, we went on to the reception and feast. Her family and friends had prepared a number of special songs and skits that were truly hilarious. (My favorite was Johan and Suzanne's parody of the two of us ... Johan wearing a sweater vest and bushy black, twitching eyebrows!) Mom and Dad had also made a slide show of pictures from Oct 20 1981 to the present. It was a very nice evening.
A very special treat was the car lent to us for the day. Our car for the wedding day was black Lexus convertible (I think an LS or ES 350, or something close to that model number). Boy, was that fun to drive! Liesbeth wanted the top up to protect her hair, but we still managed to have a few moments with the roof down. (That's another picture to come ... an especially nice one should be of the car and us in the rose garden!)
This will be the last post for the next 10-14 days. I won't get out of the habit of writing ... I enjoy it, and also seeing the posts of those who read. So we'll look forward to resuming the conversation in a few weeks.

Tomorrow....

Today has been a whale of a day.... Liesbeth and I had a littany of errands to run this afternoon. After the first errand, we came back to the car, and when I tried to start it ... nothing. Again, nothing. I tried the lights, and when they failed to come on, it confirmed my suspicion of a dead battery. Someone jumped us. We drove on to the next shop. Liesbeth went in while I sat in an idling car. I thought it had charged long enough, so I decided to go inside to check on how transactions were progressing. Of course, as soon as I turned off the car, she walked out. And as soon as I tried to restart the car, nothing happened. Fortunately, Triple A (actually ANBW, but that doesn't mean anything to us Americans) showed up very quickly, as did her father. We had to get a battery replacement quickly, because we needed the car to run, and the shops closed at 5 today. We made a trip over to the Nissan dealership, since they'd be the only ones who would have the right battery and could perform the service right away. The battery did get replaced, and Bro. Ab kindly paid for the service. The Lord was good to us, as we were able to buy the things we needed for the reception, and pick up supper for Mom, Dad, and Daniel on our way home. Amazing. All in all, we were thankful for the battery problem ... better today than tomorrow! And tomorrow, her father might have decided battery replacements are something for husbands to take care of, and not fathers!:) But whatever happens tomorrow, we are getting married! And we're very happy about it!
For Liesbeth and me, wedding events begin at 11:30, when I go to her house for tea. Friends and family will join us at 12:30 ... actually parents will be there at 11:30. From there, we go to the City Hall, and then to a Rose Garden for a break, more tea, and some pictures. Then to church, more pictures of the now-married couple, and finally to the reception and feast. Festivities will probably conclude around 11pm. Since it looks like tomorrow is going to be an even bigger day than today (whales do beget whales), I'm headed to bed, probably an hour or two later than I should have. I wish my family and friends beyond the pond,\ a very good night!

Visiting with Mom & Dad

On Saturday morning, Liesbeth and I drove to Amsterdam to pick up my parents from the airport. We were very excited to see them again. They were very tired, but they made it through the day well. We came home to the flat, and Liesbeth served a nice breakfast, and then we had what seemed like Christmas in September, opening the luggage Mom and Dad brought with them. They carried dishes from Mama (my late grandmother Crook), and most all of them made it. We had just three of four casualties, which really isn't too bad considering you're entrusting fragile items to people who specialize in throwing luggage quickly onto conveyor belts and then into planes. Liesbeth is excited to arrange the dishes in her china cupboard tomorrow.
Yesterday afternoon, we went to Scheveningen beach, and walked along the North Sea. We had a nice, but rather unimpressive dinner at a small restaurant on the beach. We made it home for an early bedtime. Mom and Dad were especially tired, but the sea air makes bed a welcome destination for anyone!
Dad got up this morning to take his walk at the park just behind our apartment building. However, the very heavy fog made navigation difficult. He made it home without a problem, but he was careful to return the way he went. After breakfast, Dad was very interested to examine the map of Waddinxveen. After church this morning, he rode Liesbeth's bicycle around town to orient himself well. While he was riding, Mom, Liesbeth, and I were sitting in the sun on our balcony. It was a very relaxing afternoon.
This evening, Bro. Ab and Sis. Anneke are taking the four of us out to dinner. We'll be eating at a nice Dutch restaurant called Easy Dinner. They have very good salad and meat (lamb, chicken, beef, e.g.). I'm hungry just thinking about it!

Update on streaming the wedding

Liesbeth and I have been very busy since I arrived in the Netherlands nearly two weeks ago. Before I left Lima, I was contemplating what I'd be doing during alone in the apartment. There has been little time for contemplation since my arrival, as my posts on home improvement suggest. While in Lima, I had talked to Bro. Franco about the possibility of streaming the wedding ceremony. Unfortunately, there has simply not been time to further explore this possibility, and the little exploration we did do indicated a significant investment would be necessary. We do plan on recording the wedding, so a DVD will be forthcoming, should anyone wish to watch the ceremony. Above is a picture of the kerk, where the ceremony will be performed.

More home improvement

Liesbeth and I had a very nice trip to Belgium this past weekend. On the way, we made a rather lengthy stop at Ikea, a very large department store specializing in merchandise for the home. The principal item on our list was a mattress, especially since our first guests (Mom and Dad) will be arriving at the end of this week. We bought a nice mattress, and some other smaller things for the apartment. Buying them was the easy part. Getting them in the car was the challenge. We had figured we'd have to pay Ikea to deliver the mattress to our flat. Bro. Ab also gave us a few items to get for him; he thought it'd be a good time to buy them so we could split delivery costs. Well, his items could be gotten in the store (and only barely fitted into the car). We had to drive to another warehouse to get the mattress, and we thought we could give the delivery folks his table at that point. Unfortunately, they couldn't receive merchandise for delivery at that location, so we had to go back to the main store to arrange delivery. At this point, we learned that the items couldn't be delivered until the 23d, four t0o late for our guests, who would be sleeping on the mattress. So we unloaded the table from the car, and then had to drive back to the warehouse to squeeze the mattress into the car. But the mattress fit much better than the table, so we were counting our blessings. Needless to say, after several hours inside and outside of Ikea, we were quite happy to leave the city of Breda to continue on to Belgium.
Yesterday, we moved some of Liesbeth's things from her cottage to the flat, and then we spent the afternoon and evening working on hanging curtains, blinds, coat rods, pictures, and lights around the flat, and cleaning as well. Fortunately, my attempts at home improvement went much better than last week! Liesbeth was very impressed with my handyman skills (probably rather incredible for those who know me or have worked with me before!). Either she's very much in love, or my home improvement skills have improved. But these two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive ... I rather enjoy seeing both as explanations for her very nice sentiments! We got a lot done yesterday, and it was very satisfying work because we made quite demonstrable progress. I will post a few pictures this afternoon of the flat. It's exciting to see the house becoming a home ... Liesbeth is very good at adding those special touches to a place to make it warm and welcoming!
Last evening, I worked on making the acquaintance of our washing machine. We did an initial load with nothing in it to clean the washing machine (thus said the instructions), and then we did a load of laundry. I think we need to set the spin rotation higher next time (it's not all automatically done), because the clothes came out rather soaked. I set them out on the balcony to dry before I went to bed. Unfortunately, it rained during the night. It's overcast and cool today, so I might have to wait for awhile on the clean clothes (I hope she doesn't notice!!!:)

Home Improvement

The de Kogel family valiantly pitched in to help Liesbeth set up house in our apartment before I arrived. The last few days, I've been working on the few projects that remained; among them, installing a light fixture in the bathroom, gluing the linoleum in the hallway, and putting up curtain rods in the spare bedroom and my office. My first light installation was a success; there were no house fires. The flooring job isn't perfect, but I think a black marker will cover up the few little problems. (Fortunately, the problem spots occurred on the black squares of the linoleum's checker-square pattern.) The curtain rods are still a work in progress. I'm learning several things. First, drywall is much easier to work with than concrete. Second, novices can be very hard on drill bits (I like to think that concrete can be, too!). I was nearly halfway done when I ran in to a problem with the drill bit; the tip was already pretty well shot, but I thought I'd see how much further I could go, especially since I didn't have any other bits. The going was pretty tough on that particular hole--perhaps I ran into some rebar, which is also hard on bits--and I ended up bending the bit. But this afternoon, I bought a replacement bit for my father-in-law, and another set of bits for me to use. I thought that purchase might be a wise step to prevent abuses of my father-in-law's generosity in lending me tools.
This evening, Liesbeth and I had a date at a delightful little restaurant called Easy Dinner. The entree was tasty, but my favorite was the goat cheese salad. If you come to Holland, you must try something with goat cheese at least once (unless, of course, you have already tried it, and know you don't like it!). Then, Lies and I went to visit Stefan and Margriet (her oldest brother and his wife). Stefan is the Master of Ceremonies for the wedding, which means he is the organizer of everything that happens fourteen days (less than 336 hours!) from now. All is in order, though there are a few details that still need attending to.
Tomorrow, I will likely take a break from the home improvement projects, as I'm preaching in the evening. And this weekend, we will be going to Belgium to visit Liesbeth's sister and her family, as well as Bro. David Eijbersen and his family, the brother who will minister at our wedding.

Welkom

The flight from Detroit to Amsterdam went well. On Saturday, Lies and I prayed that I'd be able to get an exit row seat, and when I went to check-in online, sure enough, there was one available. It was the last one in front of the doors, which lets one stretch out fully. I got in the plane, took a sleeping pill with a glass of orange juice, read awhile, and then slept for about five hours! That doesn't happen very often. Upon landing, I was able to get through passport control very quickly. As I stood in line, I wondered what I'd say if they asked me why I was coming to the Netherlands. I didn't really want to give marriage as my reason, but the gentleman just stamped my passport and asked no questions. My bags made it through safely, and I received a very warm welcome from my long lost fiancee!

I slept well last night, and today I have busied myself with unpacking and a few odd jobs around the apartment. Sis. Celia from church gave us a bed and two endtables. One of the endtables needed to be put together, and I just finished doing that awhile ago. This morning, I worked on my electrical skills by trying to install a light fixture in the bathroom (after turning the breaker off!). I was only able to do about half the job, as I lacked a drill bit. Currently, "my" household tools consist of things Liesbeth's family has left at the apartment, and though there was a drill, the only bit was one for mixing paint. I talked to Bro. Ab (pronounced Op) this afternoon, and we should be able to get the necessary bit(s) this evening.

On Saturday or Sunday, Liesbeth's niece Anke went into the hospital, and she's been diagnosed with diabetes. She's likely to be in the hospital for the rest of the week. Lies (pronounced lease, so none think I'm prevaricating!) and I will likely visit her this evening, before we meet with the city orator, the person designated to officiate at our civil ceremony. She will want to know the story of how we met, etc. Creativity might prove to be a strong temptation. Good thing I haven't been reading any Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn lately!

I'm working on learning my way around Waddinxveen (pronounced Vod-inks-fain). In a few minutes, I'll pick up Liesbeth from her work, on the way to her parents' house, where we'll eat supper. We had a delicious meal last night of pork loin covered with a nice mushroom sauce, potatoes, and applesauce. (Dessert was vanilla and blackberry ice cream ... she hasn't forgotten my weak spot!) Time to get ready to go ... hope I remember the way!

Thoughts on Family

In less than twenty-four hours, I will be flying over the eastern United States and Canada en route to Amsterdam to be reunited with my fiancee. These last two evenings, I was able to spend some very special time with family. Last night, we gathered at Grandma and Grandpa's to celebrate Grandpa's 69th birthday. There was plenty of good food ... both Mom and Grandma tried to find takers for their leftovers. The food was delicious, but calorie-rich food is only allowable at the party; few want to take it home with them. Just a month earlier, there would have been no question about what to do with leftovers, as I would have gladly taken them to my bachelor pad in Columbus.

This morning, Mom, Dad, and I went running at Kendrick Woods. It was my third time to run there in so many days, but seeing as I'll be sitting a great deal tomorrow, I'm glad for the exercise. Plus, it was really good to spend the time with Mom and Dad. After the run, Dad and I drove into town to buy some larger suitcases at Ollie's (great place for great deals!). Fortunately, I've finally been able to finish my packing. Everything should weigh in at 50 lbs or less (soon I'll be stretching my brain cells to think in kilos). It was a rather exhausting day, but a very nice final day with the family. Ashton and Kara came over for dinner, and we had a great time playing Hillbilly Golf and Quiddler. I think it was one of the best times we've had together as a family.

Speaking of family, while I packed my carry on bags, I thought some about family and came up with the following acrostic (I welcome other acrostics on this topic!):

F: Family is fun.
A: Our family helps us to focus and aim our sights on God's will for our lives.
M: Above all, family is a source of mercy.
I: Our family inspires us to pursue our dreams and persevere through difficulties.
L: Family is a place for love to be shared freely.
Y: How can I forget younguns'? Family is the place for children, who present the opportunity for parents to pass on blessings to the next generation.

Truly family are very special! Farewells are one of the more poignant times to reflect on family, but certainly not the only times. I hope I'll be able to keep up with this blog over the coming weeks and months, so that I can stay in touch with those most important to me.

As the clock now reads a quarter to midnight, I think I'd best turn in so as to get some sleep before the day of departure.