Hi Everyone! This is just a short note to let you know that we arrived safely to Holland from Istanbul. I'll post more on Istanbul shortly, but I have to share this part of the adventure while it is still fresh. The plane delayed from the morning to the night, then it delayed another hour! So, we missed the night train to Gouda (where my aunt lives) and had to wait until 4 AM for the next trains. The first is a pic of me all wrapped up on the second train with my luggage (my mom fell asleep, so I was intently looking and listening so we wouldn't miss the stop - though my eyes were playing tricks on my and kept trying to close.
When we arrived there was no one in sight. For the first time in the trip I felt a bit abandoned, ha! The Lord, the sweetie that He always is, cheered me up in a simple and special way. When we arrived up the stairs (yes, carrying up our heavy suitcase) there was some beautiful English Christmas songs ringing in the air - reminding us that He was there. We didn't find a cab and didn't know how to contact one and the last we had heard, my aunt's husband was out early with the car. So we walked for 45 minutes or so at 6 AM (the sun rises at 8:30) in weather 5 degrees below zero through the city of Gouda trying to follow the scribbled written instructions we had for getting to my aunt's house (taking turns to run to street corners to see if we have the right street before lugging the suitcases in that direction). I have never felt so cold and I imagined how Scott must have felt on his way to the south pole, ha! My nose was completely numb and for a second I thought I had frostbite. But it was fun and quite the adventure - though without the suitcases would have been best, ha! Everyone is skating and sliding around the ice out the window, and there are little kids too- it's so cool! Here is a pic of the view out the window right now
and then one of my mom and I standing on the frozen cannal by a frosty bush (don't worry, we weren't out in those clothes, we had already arrived and jumped out for a pic). 
And last there is another of the rose hips covered with frost.
Tomorrow is the shortest day of winter, and we're going to try to go ice skating too! We're at my aunt's right now and tomorrow we will go to our other Aunt's.
Thanks for keeping us in your prayers - I'll post more soon. Lots of love.
When we arrived there was no one in sight. For the first time in the trip I felt a bit abandoned, ha! The Lord, the sweetie that He always is, cheered me up in a simple and special way. When we arrived up the stairs (yes, carrying up our heavy suitcase) there was some beautiful English Christmas songs ringing in the air - reminding us that He was there. We didn't find a cab and didn't know how to contact one and the last we had heard, my aunt's husband was out early with the car. So we walked for 45 minutes or so at 6 AM (the sun rises at 8:30) in weather 5 degrees below zero through the city of Gouda trying to follow the scribbled written instructions we had for getting to my aunt's house (taking turns to run to street corners to see if we have the right street before lugging the suitcases in that direction). I have never felt so cold and I imagined how Scott must have felt on his way to the south pole, ha! My nose was completely numb and for a second I thought I had frostbite. But it was fun and quite the adventure - though without the suitcases would have been best, ha! Everyone is skating and sliding around the ice out the window, and there are little kids too- it's so cool! Here is a pic of the view out the window right nowand then one of my mom and I standing on the frozen cannal by a frosty bush (don't worry, we weren't out in those clothes, we had already arrived and jumped out for a pic). And last there is another of the rose hips covered with frost.Tomorrow is the shortest day of winter, and we're going to try to go ice skating too! We're at my aunt's right now and tomorrow we will go to our other Aunt's.
Thanks for keeping us in your prayers - I'll post more soon. Lots of love.
2 comments:
Hi Maria, I hope you had a merry Christmas wherever you are. ;)
So cool that you're getting to travel to all those places, Maria! You look like you're having a blast. I hope you're staying warm...you look rather frozen in that pic above. LY and miss you!
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