News

Benjamin has finished working two weeks ago. So far it feels a bit like a holiday for both of us and only slowly we realize that it is a final farewell to a long working time and great fellowship. Even if a little sadness resonates, we are already looking forward to what is to come.

We enjoy the time together with our daughter and have already started to pack our first boxes for the move to England. At the end of August the big journey starts. Until then there is still a lot to do. Many people come to visit us again, there is a lot to pack and organize. In a few weeks we will already be on the island at the Bible School, but it is still not completely real for us. But at the latest when we are out of the apartment and on the ferry to England, we will hopefully realize it slowly.

Esther is developing well. She’s already crawling around the apartment, starting to pull herself up everywhere and is full of curiosity. Most of the time she is a little sunshine and we have a lot of fun with our little whirlwind.

The English exams have been successfully passed. We both achieved the number of points needed for the Bible School. We are truly grateful to God for His help in all the learning, exams and taking Esther along the way. The personal interview also went well for both of us. And we’ve just received the news that we’ve been accepted to Bible school. So from September we’re going to England. Thank you for all your prayers.

Our little bundle of energy Esther grows very well. When we look at her, we are often amazed how big she already is. Now she slowly starts crawling and wants to discover the world all day long. She wants to look at everything, touch it and put it in her mouth. We have a lot of fun with her, even if there are of course also exhausting times. Meanwhile she is eating quite well with us and even the first teeth can be seen and felt at the bottom.

We wish you all a happy and blessed Easter, remembering what our Lord has done for us.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

2 Conrinthians 5. 14-15

What’s new with us?

As we wrote to you in February, we are in the application phase for a Bible School in England. The biggest (and hopefully last) hurdle we have to overcome is an English test. Benjamin has the exam date on 27.04. and Lea on 11.05.. These exams still worry us a bit at the moment, but we know that God will carry us through if we are to go to England.

Esther is developing very well. Even though she always has stressful phases and developmental boosts, we are very happy about this child. When Benjamin comes home from work he is first of all grinned and laughed at. Or she pulls grimaces to make us laugh.

But first Esther will be dedicated in our church on Easter Sunday. It is usual in our church to bless the little children. We are very much looking forward to this, because on the weekend Lea’s family and Benjamin’s parents will visit us.

We are healthy and happy back from the Christmas holidays and have almost settled back into our everyday lives. As Benjamin is working full time again since the beginning of January, Lea in particular had to change to be at home alone with Esther. All the more reason to enjoy the evenings and weekends with the three of us.

Last weekend we were at an information event of a mission organization to get an insight into their work. Slowly the plans to go into mission become more concrete. We are about to apply for a Bible school in England and are already practicing English.

Esther is learning a lot of new things at the moment. She can already turn from her belly to her back and always discovers new sounds that her mouth can make. At the moment she is very affectionate and prefers to be on her arm or in the sling all the time. Sometimes this can be really exhausting. Nevertheless, we also have lots of beautiful and funny moments with this little creature. You can’t help but love her when she smiles at you with her toothless mouth. No matter how bad she was before.

After celebrating our first Christmas with Baby at Benjamin’s parents’, we spend the time between the years now with Lea’s family. Esther is well integrated in all the hustle and bustle and is fascinated by all the colorful lights, especially the Christmas tree. Tomorrow we will head home again. Benjamin’s parental leave is over and he will work full time again.

We wish you all a richly blessed and God filled year 2019.

Christmas, what a lovely time. Even with all the hustle and bustle it is always a time of reflection, a time of silence, a peaceful time. Also a time of waiting. And that in a double sense. We wait for Christmas Eve and of course for the presents. More than 2000 years ago, God’s people waited longingly. For the Saviour, for salvation. What a gift that we no longer have to wait for it. God has sent the Saviour. Jesus became man as a child, came to earth, became small and lived among us.

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Philippians 2,6-7 (NIV)

When you have a little child of your own, it gets a whole new meaning. This is at least how we feel when we see our daughter before us, small and helpless, in need of protection and completely dependent on us. Then we can only be amazed and thank God for what he has done. For the fact that Jesus came into the world as a baby. Small and helpless, like our daughter. God gave us His Son. He came to die for us, to be close to us, so that we could be close to him. What a gift, what a blessing. We have such a great, gracious God who has given us infinitely rich gifts. Let us not forget this in all the Christmas hustle and bustle and praise God for His Son and His reconciliation with us. For Christmas.

Our website has a new face from now on. A leaner system, with which we can work more simply, also the surface looks a little different. We hope you like it and wish you (and us) a lot of fun with it.

In the truest sense of the word. Probably the most important one first:

We are the parents of a wonderful little daughter.

Esther was born on October 25th at 7:46 am with 2620g and a length of 47cm. Since then we enjoy life as a threesome. She is a huge blessing for us. A very peaceful and quiet little mouse that makes it really easy for us to be parents. We are absolutely in love with our little miracle. The first developmental push with restless nights we have just behind us, now she learns to laugh and is much more attentive than before. We rejoice in our little girl and are infinitely grateful to God for this great gift.

Lea completed her education well in September and is now at home with Esther.

Benni is currently on parental leave and only works a few days a week, so there is plenty of time for the family, which we enjoy very much. The company where he works has recently moved to a new building. On the one hand this brought and brings a lot of work, because all workplaces had to be newly arranged and a lot of technology had to be newly installed. But there are also many advantages, especially the proximity to colleagues and new, better technology.

All in all, we are doing really well at the moment. We are getting used to our new role as parents and are happy about the time we have together.

Here are some pictures of our daughter: