American History - Ford Mansion & Jockey Hollow

The older girls have studied early American History in their home school curriculum. Since the East is full of history we took the opportunity to explore some of these sights. One cool thing we 'discovered' that all the National Historic parks offer a junior ranger badge for free! The girls get a booklet with questions about the relevant historic site, once completed they get a ranger badge. We ended up doing six badges in total. What a great way to learn history! (Do those trip count as homeschooling field trips?)

• Ford Mansion (NJ)
• Thomas Edison (NJ)
• Federal Hall (NY)
• Presidents Park (Washington DC)
• Monuments (Washington DC)
• Independence hall (Philadelphia)

Ford Mansion where George Washington spends a winter

We were able to have tour inside the house

George Washington's 'office'

Ranger (with Kate)

Mrs Ford's bedroom, she gave up her house
to George Washington and his men

Kitchen

Servants sleeping quarters

More sleeping quarters

In front on the mansion

This badge/park consisted of several sites of interest and so we explored all the various sites. 

In the information centre

A map of Jockey Hollow. This is where George Washington's
men spend the hardest winter on record

A soldier's hut. This is how they managed
to survive the winter despite the lack of food.

This hut was actually inside the information center,
quite impressive

One of the gardens

Kate and Michaela working on their badge work

Grace

Albert and Zara, notice her badge

Supervising!

Ford Nonsense

A ford on top of a hill that was never used.

View to the town

Walking/tracing the Fort walls - Albert and Kate

Jockey Hollow - The hard winter

The actual Soldiers huts

Reading the history!

Papa, look at those fences, no nails!

In front of the hut

Bunkbeds

Kate

Reflections!

Meeting Clifford in 'real' life, a highlight for Kate!

WOW, summer is over and it's the first day of 'school' for Albert! It's gone fast. I thought that before I  show you all that we have gotten upto over summer in picture form I would give you my personal reflections on the internship and what I have learned. 

I was privileged to meet so many lovely, lovely people and was able to get to know them a bit better mostly over dinners. I loved the diversity of the church which is something I haven't experienced before, from new Christians to mature Christians, various backgrounds (some very interesting ones), various forms of suffering (a large number of widows) and a newborn baby who survived major heart surgery! We enjoyed countless offers of hospitality in various settings. (I was glad for my electronic calendar on my ipad mini as otherwise I wouldn't be able to keep up with all the offers of hospitality!). 

We enjoyed lots of swimming both at a church members pool and at the YMCA. The girls got really good at swimming, Kate and Zara especially did really well, we are almost at the stage now where all the girls are swimming. On some of the hot, hot days, the outdoor pool felt like a warm bath but being wet did help. 

The weather was VERY hot (90-110F) and humid (often 80-100%). I was surprised on how quickly we did acclimatize. On the very hot days we went to the library, YMCA or hung out in the basement playing the wii and ate lots and lots and lots of icepops. Now being back in Illinois having 73F days seem cold! How funny is that! 

I did manage to complete my year of homeschooling, it was a real struggle for me in the end but we made it. I had hoped in my optimism to start on the new school year and get a few weeks done over summer but with it being that hot and the lounge was not air conditioned, I decided to leave it. I can't do it all! Also the girls went to Vacation Bible School for two weeks over summer, one at another church (the Free Reformed) and one at Pompton Plains Reformed Bible Church. They really enjoyed both those weeks and it was nice for me to have someone else teach them. 

A couple of words of encouragement for you ladies in regard to hospitality. We would have been invited to at least 20 homes over the summer with some lunch and breakfast invites as well. 

• Despite what your may tell yourself, it truly does NOT matter what you serve. We have enjoyed some lovely restaurant type cooking from ladies who were gifted in that area. We also have had some very simple plain meals and some even bought dinner. The idea here is not what is served but the company of the 'saints'! We appreciated the willingness of those people to have us over. A special note for those you are single, YES we were invited by some widows and not just one! 
• A couple of people invited their extended family over as well as us.I really loved the concept as we were there for a short time and so it was nice to be able to meet several people at once. 
• The church family invited us knowing that we were unable to return the honor of having them over for dinner. There were simply too many invites and soo little time. May this be your (my) attitude too, to invite the 'angels' into our house because God commands hospitality instead of with the wrong motives!  

Girls - The girls did VERY well and thrived during the summer. They got very fit from all the walking we did especially in NY (we were too Dutch to pay for the subway), lots of swimming (at least 3-4 times a week) and scootering.

You know when you as a family travel a lot when:

• The girls prefer to sleep in one room together! (Yes even though we had three bedrooms, we only used two!)
• Automatically take a book or something to do in the car without me saying where we are going or how long for.
• Ask you: where are we going for dinner tonight?
• Automatically say their name and age when they meet someone new (this is very cute if I say so myself!)
• Hug people they have never met and thank them once they leave
• Are able to play instantly all sorts of games etc with 'new friends'.
• Your chillybin (cooler for US people) becomes your best friend (apart from the GPS of course!!)
• Happily look at some more airplanes at the third air and space museum that summer (oh dear did I just write that?)
• Happily eat sandwiches on the road for dinner, again!
• They travel for 12 hours straight in the car with not much entertainment and only stop to refuel the car. (On a sad note, I had downloaded quite a few audio books to my ipad mini but sadly overnight the ipad 'cooked' and so I was unable to use it. On a good note, once we got back, we went to the Apple store and they replaced it, no questions asked!)

As a summary, I thoroughly enjoyed the summer and it truly was a working holiday for us. Albert did work a fair amount, but was able to have one day off a week which the church insisted on. I was able to attend ladies bible studies  have some play dates and had a few dates with Albert too! We are also VERY blessed by the church for supporting us financially over the summer. Thanks to the generosity of a few people in the church we were also able to do some 'extra' things over summer, like visiting Wasington DC. 

Albert's Update 9/9

(Hopefully now that we are back on schedule, blog posts should be coming more regularly!)

New Zealand Students!

It is a Saturday evening as I begin to write this post. I am currently 42,000 feet in the air somewhere over North Dakota and about to cross the border into Canada.

As part of our Ministerial Apprentice Programme (MAP), we are required to preach at least 8 times during the school year.  The opportunity came up to preach in a vacant church in Calgary, Alberta. So I am undertaking a whistle stop journey into Canada. I will be there for Saturday evening, take two worship services at Bethel URC in Calgary on Sunday, and then head back home to Chicago on Monday evening.

In the morning I will be preaching from Psalm 126, the theme being "We are to have Joy because of the Lord's control of our path in life." It was the last sermon that I preached at Pompton Plains. In the evening I will be using one of my favorite sermons (so far) on Judges 3:12-30 - Ehud and Eglon. The blessing of writing a number of sermons over the Summer means that I have a ready supply for the beginning of the year. While I would like to write a new sermon for each service that I take the reality is that this is just not practical with the workload of the semester. I will be writing some new sermons for class during the year, and I will be able to use those also.

It's such a blessing to meet other Reformed people around North America, and certainly something that we are finding a very valuable experience in our time here.

This Semester, while busy, is not looking to be as heavy a workload as last Semester. I also have a much better idea of what I am doing, and how to organize myself as well. Due to our being required to take services during the year, we also have no class on Monday, to enable us to travel back from wherever we have been preaching. So, if I am not travelling, it is also a great opportunity to get some work done.

This year I am also going to spend a little more time with the girls in homeschooling, to help them along with their language arts. I have also volunteered to take the devotions and PE for our homeschooling group that meets on Thursday. Hanneke and I decided that it would be a good way for me to have the opportunity to spend more time with the girls. Something that I have learnt over the past year is that I need to have structured family time, otherwise it does just not happen.

This week another milestone was passed. I have been married to my best friend for 15 years. Wow! God has been good, and the exciting thing is that it just keeps getting better! Thank you Hanneke, for sticking by me, and putting up with me, and agreeing to follow me on this new path in life that the Lord is leading us down.

We also said goodbye this week to Oma van der Horst. We had a lovely 3 weeks together with her, and we enjoyed some of our adventures out in the country side. She also spoiled us rotten with all of the goodies that she brought over with her. It was lovely to show her around where we live, and Seminary. She now knows a lot more about our temporary home over here in the States.

Next time I will fill you in on some of the courses that I am taking this Semester, as well as some of the books that I am reading.

Blessings,

Albert

Pompton Plains Reformed Bible Church

(We're on our way back to Ilinois via some tourist spots at the moment so hence the blogposts will be sporadic for a couple of weeks!)

For those interested, here are a few pictures of where we are living while in Pompton Plains. We live in the ministry house on the church property. The ministry house is used as a youth centre and so it has plenty of youth entertainment! The girls enjoy 'playing' with the youth toys like, wii, huge beanbags, table tennis table, air hockey and also a Foosball table. Like all things, the novelty wears off after a while although they can't get enough of playing with and on the beanbags! The wii has also come in handy as it is soo hot over here and the basement (where the wii is) is cooler and has provided some entertainment for them. We adults have enjoyed the youth's huge movie screen with projector, it will be sad that we're going to have watch netflix on a TV when we get back home. 

Girls ready to 'scooter' down the hill from
the ministry house

Ministry house

View of the back of the church looking down from
the ministry house

Front of the church

Main Entrance

Grace and friend

Ready to scooter down the hill!

The older you get the better the parking spot!

Random June

It's been a while since I did a random photo post, so here it is!

Slip 'n' Slide

Albert playing with the girls

Rev Paul and Julie Murphy at Messiah Fellowship in NY

Driving to church in NY
(It did feel funny paying for the toll road to get to church)

My (homemade) Birthday Icecream Cake
Maple walnut french vanilla, YUM!

Kate and Grace with a friend

Monkey Zara in the same tree

HOT!

Kate with Clifford in the Library

Albert's Update 25th July 2013

Things are beginning to wind up for me here in Pompton Plains. Next week is our last full week here, and my final time preaching will be the two morning services on August 4 (DV). After that we are planning to slowly make our way back home.

We are hoping to stay a few days in Philadelphia, as well as to make a quick two day visit to Washington DC.

They are sort of on the way home, and we thought that we might as well make the most of the opportunity, as it is unlikely that we will be out this side of the States again soon. At the moment we are studying all the free/ cheap things to do in Washington DC. 

Having worked through last week I am having two days off starting tomorrow. I also not preaching this Sunday - the first Sunday I am not preaching for since coming here, so I am looking forward to sitting in the Pew with the family again! On Friday we are planning to see the 911 memorial, as well as take the Staten Island ferry to go past the Statue of Liberty. The girls (and the grown ups) are looking forward to that one! Both activities are free, so it is only parking for the car, and the train in, that we need to pay for.

On Saturday we are hoping to go up to High Point. It won't surprise you to learn that this is the Highest point of New Jersey. There is supposed to be a monument to climb there too apparently. Pictures no doubt to follow.

We have been making the most of my days off, and going and exploring as much as we can. There is lots to see and do around here!

Last Sunday, Hanneke and I bravely volunteered to pick up Rev Victor Atallah, and his wife Lisa. How hard can it be to drive in New York? It should be a lovely romantic drive for us. Well, while the drive was good for our marriage, it was not so easy an exercise. We had written directions, but they did not agree with the GPS. We got there in the end, and I only had to apologize for losing my cool once. Going back out was a much smoother operation, and it was lovely to spend some time with Rev Atallah and Lisa. Rev Atallah preached at Pompton Plains that evening, and also spoke afterwards.

We dropped the Atallah's off at where Rev Ken Campbell and his wife Heather are currently staying on Holiday. Those names should sound familiar to a number of our Kiwi readers. It was lovely to catch up that evening with some people from back home, and we hope to catch up with them again prior to our leaving for Illinois.

I have been continuing to preach and visit. I am preparing for VBS or Vacation Bible School. I am going to be dressed up as a Knight for the week. Again, pictures no doubt to follow!

We have enjoyed our time here. It has been a real time of serving others, and being so blessed ourselves. The congregation here has really made us feel welcome, and have encouraged us in our ministry here. I have enjoyed preaching, and I am enjoying the progress that I am making in this area, through the Lord's strength and equipping. This summer has been one of further strengthening of the inward call that is continuing to develop in my life, combined with much external encouragement. We are excited about the future, and for what the Lord has in-store for us!

Have a blessed week,

Albert