No. 18, February 2012English Edition

We send our warmest greetings to family and friends in this new year of our Lord 2012. Thank you for all your family updates. We enjoy getting to "visit" with you for a little while. Katriena has written an update of our family activities. Overall it has been a year of travelling -- not just weeks, but months, and this year promises to be the same. We humbly thank the Lord for His travelling mercies and continue to seek His blessing on our endeavours. Thank you to all those who offered hospitality to our travellers. Now I will let Katriena update you on our family.

My parents are both busy, as always. My dad, well, he just works on Schilder, Schilder, Schilder and lately he's been trying to fix our water hydrant (or "pump") in the barn. When Paulina tried to open it one time something snapped. So Paulina and I carried water from the house to the barn for 8 goats, 2 cows and about 18 chickens. That's not always easy on slippery paths. Anyway, my dad tried to fix it this way and that, but nothing worked, so he finally dug a deep, deep hole in the ground. With Hinne's help in a few days they had a hole about 8 feet deep. And they put a new hydrant in. What a relief, because carrying water in -35°C isn't always easy!

My mom is always busy, busy, busy. She does and knows everything! A few weeks ago before we went to church Juliana was yelling down the hall way, "Mammy, do you know where my Psalm book is?" My dad right away replied "Why do you always ask MAMMY for that?" "Because Mammy always knows where everything is!". It's true! We do help her out, but I still think she works the hardest of all of us! She also started the children's choir again this year. We started with quite a new group, so it was different then two years ago, but it's lots of fun. Personally I think they do very well, and learn fast.

Paulina is busy with keeping the sales and all going over here. My dad has pretty much handed it all over to her. So he edits, translates etc. while she packs, makes payments, books conferences, etc. She enjoys it, but sometimes she is busy. Between working for my dad in the shop, teaching 7 piano students, and taking piano and violin lessons, she sometimes runs out of time. As I mentioned, she has 7 piano students this year. It started 2 years ago with one. Last year it was 2 for the first part, and then the 2nd half Juliana took lessons from her too. Now she has 3 students in Barrhead and 4 in Neer-landia of which Juliana and I are 2. She enjoys it though. She loves knitting and goes (with her knitting) to a senior lady (or senior couple) every Tuesday evening during the time that she has to bring and pick Hinne and me up from Catechism. She's hoping to do her grade 9 piano exam this spring.

Roelf Kars is busy selling books too. Except he has a special way of doing it. He goes around the world ;-) (actually just North America) in his big red Dodge, 4x4, 2011, Cummins, 6.7 lt. diesel, long-boxed crew cap pick-up truck! He loads it all up, goes to conferences or door-to-door selling, and he really enjoys it. He's still taking violin/viola lessons, (when he's home), and I think he's a very good player. Going around in the Fraser Valley (B.C.) and Smithers, he managed to go to some practices with orchestra's, and I think he even performed with some of them. In July he went to the Reformed String Camp with Paulina, Juliana, and Hinne. They met lots of people, and after that went for a 4 week holiday "working" in the States. They had 3 conferences there, two in California and one in Arizona. Hot tempatures, the big Red Woods, and lots of fun. Roelf Kars really likes meeting people, and he has had a lot of discussions with people about all kinds of subjects.

Hinne is still our dreamer. He loves insects. His friend Ian and him were collecting spiders, moths, and anything interesting. But Ian forgot to water them, so his mom finally told him to dump it. So now they take photos of all of these animals. I prefer that! You know what Hinne did? He butchered our rooster and made croquetten out of it. He takes cello lessons and he's getting quite good. He really enjoyed going to the States with Roelf Kars this spring and summer. But by August he was ready to come home for a while. He travelled through about 44 states. Roelf Kars has been in all of the states but 5.

Juliana as I already said is taking piano lessons from Paulina. She also takes viola lessons. I think this is her 3rd year. She's getting better at both. She has one problem with piano. She memorizes everything so when you tell her "that's wrong" you have to play it for her before she knows where she's wrong! That lengthens her lessons a little! As I mentioned she was privileged to go to string camp with the other 3 string players. That's a years worth of learning experiences packed into one week. It was over too soon in their opinion!

Maria goes to the barn with Paulina now to do goat chores. She likes that. She's always building something with wood. This summer she and Juliana (with Hinne's help,) built a little house. It's made out of pallets, doesn't have a roof, has shelves though, stocked with old pans and all kind of things to cook with, used feed sacks to cover the window and was "lived in all day" except for when it was time to eat. She takes organ lessons from my mom now, and practices everyday. She is doing well in school and keeps busy working and playing.

Michael is still our little red-head. He has dimples in both cheeks and has a big bush of hair. Us girls hate it when it gets cut, but he says he looks like a girl if it gets too long. He thoroughly enjoys being outside, biking, sword fighting with Lodewyk, etc. He likes Marnix too, unless Marnix is getting into his farm. He's just all boy. Paulina heard a little conversation between him and Hannah a while ago. Hannah said, "Michael, can we play church?" "No." "Yes, then I'll be the dad and you can be the mom." So cute.

Lodewyk is really goofy (a lovable one though). He'll come to me and say "Jij bent de liefste Tiena van deze familie (you're the nicest Tiena {Katriena} of this family)" and then one time, when he said it to Paulina, Paulina said, "So, who is the meanest Paulina of this family?" He had to think about that one, but came to the conclusion, she was the nicest and the meanest Paulina of the family, since there was only one Paulina! It's so cute. He loves playing with Hannah, and is a little dreamer. One time we were eating supper. He was looking straight into my eyes across the table and I said "Lodewyk, can you please pass me the . . . . . . . " He never noticed I was talking to him. He was just in an other world. Or my dad will say, "OK, we're going to pray" and Lodewyk, pulled out of his own world, quickly wants to start putting everything on the table straight. He just dreeeeeams! And climbs! Sometimes we think our heart won't ever beat again when we see him!

Hannah adores Marnix. He doesn't always appreciate our adorations though. We cuddle him too much, just like girls, and he's just like a boy. Hannah has recently started being his mom. She's Rianne (our cousin) and Marnix is Natalie (the youngest of Rianne's family). And if you dare pick him up when he is Natalie or when they are sitting in church, she will really let you know your are transgressing. She is a fun girl though. After every meal, she'll say to Daddy "Daddy, I'm your daughter." She finally understands that Mammy is her mom, but she's still Mammy's Mammy, and Paulina is Mammy's sister, etc. It's so cute, every day she has a new one. And it's all so innocent.

Marnix is really cute. He can giggle, and you just have to laugh if you want to or not. He's a very happy little boy. He marches (or rather runs) through the house, and is everywhere at once. We all love him though. And when my parents were gone with him for a week end a few weeks ago, I asked who the children missed the most. The over-all answer was "maybe Mammy, but I think Marnix" I agreed! This summer he very much enjoyed going outside, and so far we are having a very mild winter, which is nice for him, because he really enjoys going outside. And he adores Roelf Kars. Before Roelf Kars left in November, Marnix was always playing with him. If Roelf Kars had to go outside, he wanted to go too, and he was very offended and sad when Roelf Kars left him. Sometimes Roelf Kars would be hopeless, because he just couldn't get rid of Marnix. The day before Roelf Kars left we took a picture of him and Marnix. We hung it up on the fridge, and since Roelf Kars left, when you lift Marnix up by the fridge he'll start pointing at that picture. He's always pointing at Roelf Kars before he does at anyone else. He looks a lot like Roelf Kars too!

(Katriena) I have been taking voice lessons for two years now. I take piano lessons from Paulina. Other than that, I pack books for Paulina, with or without her, when she needs me and try to help my mom some too. I've been volunteering at an old aged home in Barrhead for a year now. I really enjoy that. I play games with the seniors, serve them coffee, and just visit. I hope to start volunteering in the hospital too, but we still need to get that ball rolling. Last year just before Christmas we got a new cow. I milk her, and she's pretty good. It's funny how you can get to know a cow. At first I thought all I would do was milk her, but now I know her tempers! I can just "read" her mind it seems like. When Paulina was gone to the USA, I milked the goats for her. Goats seem to grow on you. I really enjoyed it, and didn't want to give it up when she came back. I also help my mom with the children's choir. We have lots of fun, and I'm looking forward to starting again next week.

With Our Love,

Roelof & Theresa Janssen

Paulina, Roelf Kars, Katriena, Hinne, Juliana, Maria, Michael, Lodewyk, Hannah, & Marnix.

Marnix' First Birthday