Thank You

Every night my prayers begin with a thank you. I thank the Lord for the day. I am not really sure when I started thanking Him for each day, but I do know for sure that since we moved, I have not missed the opportunity to say thank you.

In February 2008 Jim called me from a soccer game in which he was a referee. He said he had spoken with his boss and had been offered the opportunity to move to Leiden, The Netherlands, for a new assignment. He asked what I thought. As we spoke, it all sounded pretty exciting to me, so I told Jim I would talk with the kids. I took the kids to Jakes, a favorite local spot for dinner. While we sat at dinner, I asked the kids what they would think about living in Europe for a few years while daddy took a new position. Kevin and Sarah immediately said "yes!". Kevin said "How can we pass up an opportunity like this?" Sarah also thought it would be great fun to discover Europe. Brian, well, he was the one hold out. Brian said that he just didn't want to move again. Moving to The Netherlands would be Brian's 5th move (Sarah's 6th and Kevin's 7th). We talked about it for a while and decided we would go for it! In August we packed up and headed to Holland.

Holland was a wonderful place. Of course, it is easy to say that 3 years later! The town we lived in is Wassenaar. It is an absolutely beautiful place. Huge trees that hang over the roads, brick streets and sidewalks, the most quaint little town you can imagine. The main shopping area of Wassenaar is called the Laangstraat. Translation: Long Street! It is filled with small shops selling cheese, chocolates (best EVER), wine, clothing, stationary, and housewares. Picture Mayberry...that is our Wassenaar. The shops all close at 5 PM every day and nothing is open on Sunday. And when I say things close at 5 PM, that means key turned and shop owner walking down the sidewalk closed! While that was a bit frustrating at first, we certainly learned to love that relaxed, slow atmosphere.

Sunday's in Holland are certainly family days. It is when families spend time together biking, walking, going to the dunes (beach), exploring, or just spending the day at home together. You are forced into family time and it is something that certainly pays off. I give Holland a lot of credit to the closeness of my family. Gone were the days of leaving at 6 am and returning at 4 PM for soccer games. Gone were the days of Jim taking Sarah to one soccer field, me taking Brian to another, and us leaving Kevin alone in the dust. There were no long 4 nights of soccer practice. There we no longer early morning band practices. Our hectic, but typical, American schedule came to a skreetching halt. My family learned to actually spend time together telling stories, watching movies, playing games and....here it is...talking.

I now have 3 teenagers in my house. Kevin will turn 18 next month; Sarah will be 16 next month, and Brian has just turned 14. Last night the 5 of us sat in our TV room here in Dubai and told stories about school, friends, and (sorry) the kids teachers. We laughed until we cried. Jim and I had planned to sit in the TV room and stare at the box. As we were all laughing, Jim said..."who needs TV?!" How true.

So last night I again said thank you. I have three amazing teenagers who still want to be in the room with their parents and siblings. They talk, help each other with homework, compare notes of their day, and laugh together. Wow. How blessed I am.