Category: english

If there is only one thing that we have learned in living in Croatia, it is the strength to accept the vulnerability and brokenness and embrace it. This is the opening sentence in the blog post about the Goodbye of our dear dog Vanda. We faced many more good-byes this year.  The biggest change for…

  “Awake! Why are you sleeping, o Lord?” Phew! This is quite an approach to God, who is Holy and Triune, and more than we can think of or imagine! And yet it is the Word of God and the ancient Psalm 44. There is a whole mix of emotions in this psalm. This last…

Somewhere on the wall in the place that we call “home” this week are the famous words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Von guten Machten wunderbar geborgen erwarten wir getrost, was kommen mag, Gott ist bei uns am Abend und am Morgen, und gans gewiss an jeden neuen Tag. /Wonderfully sheltered by good powers, we confidently expect…

Hey there,     It is hard to believe, but the 100-day journey is already over. It felt definitely as a pilgrimage, and sometimes I felt living the Lord of the Rings with all its rockiness, but also with beautiful green fields and sights of a bigger picture. The 100-day journey is over, but when…

This time, I’ d love to take you along a silent morning walk along the dike and show you a bit of our area. We live in the eastern part of the Netherlands in the fruitfull river area, near Arnhem. Dikes are build along the riverside, to avoid the danger of flooding. Walking over the…

It had already been on my wishlist for a while: To go with our family to a monastery. This summer, the time was ripe. Our trip—a few weeks ago—was from Osijek (Croatia) to the Netherlands. As you might know, we moved back to the Netherlands because of the educational needs of some of our children.…

On the rocky road, a few passengers step by along with a goat, a few cats, and a few dogs. A child is walking a goat as you might usually see a kid walking a dog. The horse wagon is a useful way of transport for whatever needs transporting. The village of Darda is full…

We might have moved to the Netherlands, but I just would love to give you a little snapshot about our life. Many things will change, but Jelle will continue in the coming year to teach and visit Osijek every two months. I take you along. What did you actually do in Osijek? The main focus…

The first 50 days of the 100-day journey are already over! Here a photo impression…. Enjoy!

How Ecumenical contacts are oxygen for the soul