Work and Play

The canals of Amsterdam with the "South Church" in the background.

The heart of Amsterdam's Old City

We were a little too earlier for the blooming of Netherlands' famous tulip gardens.  There were still plenty of daffodils and crocuses though!

For the last for years that Zach has been working on his Ph,D. in New Testament at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam.  During that time, Sharon has grumbled a bit.  It was unfair that Zach, who has not a drop of Dutch blood in his veins, has spent a few weeks in the Netherlands every year since 2011, while she, who is entirely of Dutch origin, has never visited the Netherlands at all.  Well, this spring Sharon finally got her chance.  Zach left for the Netherlands in March to go over several chapters with his Ph.D. supervisor.  Sharon came a week later and spent eight days enjoying the country where her grandparents immigrated from.  Ironically, during all his visits, Zach had never played the part of tourist since his visits have been entirely consumed by work. This time, we both had a chance to see a little bit of the country.  In fact, our visit to the Netherlands was in celebration of our fifteenth wedding anniversary which will be on May 20, 2015.  It was wonderful to celebrate God's faithfulness to our family while getting a little break from our children who stayed back with friends and grandparents in Michigan.  One of the high points was a visit to the home of Ad and Coby de Blaeij, our former colleagues who lived in Haiti nearly thirty years.  It was great to see the de Blaeijs flourishing in their own country again.  During our visit, Zach submitted the final chapter of his Ph.D.  The plan is to spend the final weeks of study leave before returning to Haiti on June 8 doing revisions.  Lord willing, Zach may graduate in the spring of 2016.