Chinese Light Festival

Yesterday, Saturday the 14th of January, Aaron & I headed up to visit some of my cousins in Northern Holland.  They had some baby stuff for us to look and and buy if we wanted, since they are finished having children.  I got a pretty sweet stroller with many added parts, as well as this lovely baby blanket!  Echte Nederlands!

After it started to get dark we headed into town to the Chinese Gardens to check out the Chinese Light Festival going on.  Was pretty cool.  Reminded me of the light festival that they have in Niagara Falls.  (I forgot to bring my camera with, so all these were taken with my iPhone. Not bad I must say!)

This picture was taken by my cousin Rieanne.

The balance of the pictures can be seen at the end of this album.

Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

WOW!! Can you believe it is already 2012??

2011 started off with a surprise visit for me to my family ... and ended with me visiting my family again :) But oh so many things happened in between those two visits.

January ~ surprise visit to my family, for my birthday ... was so much fun just showing up at my parents front door!!
February ~ sorting, packing and selling off some possessions in anticipation of the move
March ~ we moved to Amstelveen, The Netherlands
April ~ my parents came to visit us, and we toured around a bit of the northern Netherlands
May ~ we went down to southern France for our anniversary
June/July ~ we spent a long weekend in Poland with our churches mission team, evangelizing and helping them grow the churches in Poznan, they carried on further and went to Gdansk as well
August ~ we found out we are expecting!!!
September ~ we spent a whirlwind week and half in Portland visiting friends
September/October ~ Grace came to visit and her & I went to Switzerland
November ~ Aaron & I went to northern France for his birthday, as well as with a colleague of his to Antwerp, Belgium
December ~ I went back to Canada to visit my family for Christmas


I'm now at the end of my 31st week of pregnancy ... according to "THE" calendar, I'm 222 days pregnant, really doesn't seem like it! :)  It has flown by so far, and other then tiredness, I have been feeling pretty good.  I never did suffer from morning sickness, for which I am very thankful, since I hate throwing up!  I avoid it at all costs, if possible.

The only other thing going on now is that my blood pressure has been higher then they like, and I was just diagnosed with a form of gestational diabetes.  I don't have gestational diabetes itself, but an elevated level of glucose, which, if not monitored and watched can turn into gestational diabetes.  So I spent the morning seeing a doctor of internal medicine, a diabetes nurse, and in an hour I see the nutritionist as well, to try to get this all under control.  I also now get to puncture myself 7 times a day to check my blood glucose levels.

For the elevated blood pressure, I have to go in weekly now to have that checked, but it has come down again slightly, and is not to the level that they want to put me on medication.

Hectic.  Crazy.

Oh and in the midst of all this, we are trying to find a place to live in Portland for when we get back in April.  It is hard to do from over 9000 miles away.  Pictures don't always do apartments or houses justice. I'm sure it'll all figure itself out, but still, it can be kinda frustrating.  We wanted to move back into the complex we were in before, but it is such a nice place that people don't want to leave!  So, sadly, they don't have any openings!

Sorry, I don't have any pictures to post today.  It has been a cold, wet winter so far and I haven't really been out with the camera in quite some time.  The forecast for the next few days is sunny and dry, so maybe I'll go for a ride out to the Amsterdamse Bos again, and see what it looks like without leaves.  :)

Antwerp, Belgium

Once again we were gone for the weekend.  This time we headed down to Antwerp, Belgium.  A colleague of Aaron's was in town for a training seminar, and since he had already spent time in Amsterdam, was wanting to go somewhere else to visit.

I researched prices and renting a car was pretty much the exact price as taking the train for three people down to Antwerp, and would take less time as well.  Plus we wouldn't be stuck on someone else's schedule, but could come and go as we pleased.

We left around 6 and got in to Antwerp by about 7:30.  After checking into our hotel, we asked for directions to a close restaurant, that had some good food.  They directed us to a Brazilian place.  Good food! :)

Saturday morning when we got up, the sun was shining and the skies were blue and beautiful.  We planned our day and headed out for the old city centre.  We ended up doing a lot of walking, but that was good when it was compared with the amount of chocolate we bought and ate!!!

view from our hotel room window

fun graffiti

We thought about renting bikes, but Ted didn't want to ride without a helmet ...

The giant of Antwerp

The bridal getaway car ~ This one's for you Dad.

City Hall ~ waiting for the bride to come out

Their she is!

only remaining original stain glass window in this cathedral ... one of the oldest in Belgium {I eavesdropped on a passing tour!!}

The following pictures are from the train station in Antwerp.

As it stands, we don't have any other trips planned for a while.  Aaron has used up all his vacation days for the year now.  It looks like our next big trip will be moving back home in March/April with a baby.

We don't have complete details yet, but once again we are living with a bit of a drop of the hat type of lifestyle.  The work contract has changed dynamics, and looks to be finishing in one year instead of three, which means that as soon as the baby and I can travel, we'll be heading back to Portland, Oregon.  When we have more details, we will let you all know.  If anyone does want to come visit us, and see some of Europe, please feel free to do so!!  We know of a few BnB's slightly close that we can work out some arrangements for you!

Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends ... I'm hoping to find something turkey like for tomorrow, but if not, it looks like boerenkool met worst and applesauce are on the menu! :)  YUM!!!

To see all the pictures from our last two weeks, check out this album.  The current pictures start after the ones from the Corrie ten Boom house.