Saturday, December 20, 2014

Generations ~ A picture from the past...

A picture of FIVE generations from 90 years ago.


This picture was taken by the newspaper company and distributed throughout parts of Holland.

It read: "In the community of Zwaagwesteinde is a family where five generations are all present. This is really special."

*OLDEST - Grietje Klaver 1830-1927
*Tryntje VanderLand - 1852-1935
*Grietje deJong - 1875-1956
*Jacoba Postma - 1902-1962
*Grietje Spoelstra  - December 21, 1924 - to present

The baby in this picture, Grietje Spoelstra, is turning 90 tomorrow!

While I grew up this picture was framed at my grandparents home; the woman holding the baby was my great-grandmother. This picture of five generations is indeed special!



Thursday, December 4, 2014

BOOKS


This devotional has been written for the whole family to read together and grow in grace. Topics such as loneliness, failure, jealousy are addressed. We have finished reading it as a family and we highly recommend it. 
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A great book using the alphabet to learn different verses from the Psalms. A story, questions, and a Bible verse goes along with each letter.
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I ordered this book for our church library but after reading a few pages knew this book is one that should be owned as well. The author is loving, kind, and yet challenging writing about contentment in our relationships, circumstances, roles, appearance, and gifts. There is a twelve week study guide included with the book. I am not sure how the questions are but the book is an excellent read.
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We are reading through this book during the weekends as a family. Bible stories are told with God's plan of redemption emphasized. 
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After reading Kristen Welch's blog I was curious what her book would be like. I find her writing slightly dramatized but this was not the case in her book. She writes of their hard times in the early years of marriage, bringing up children, their family's desire to open up a pregnancy center in Kenya and how God put it all together.
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This book had over 6,000 excellent reviews on amazon and it deserved every one. Exceptionally written, the author has woven stories of nine teenage American boys during the Great depression and their hard work to make the unthinkable happen. I had no idea that I would be interested in the sport of rowing but somehow the author captivates you, and before you know it, you find yourself cheering out loud for these boys! The reader is given pictures of what life was like during the Great Depression Era, and Germany leading up to World War II.  Both Adam and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.