Day 5

Today we looked forward to a day of rest….literally! It was Sunday and we were able to worship in Alvar’s Uncle’s Church (he is the minister there) in Arnhem, the Kruiskerk Arnhem. Although I wasn’t able to understand much of the service, it was a blessing that all the songs we sang were familiar! So, I did my best reading the Dutch and singing along, as far as I could tell, no one noticed too much ;) Here is the link to the actual service while we were there, click on May 25th...you might just be able to here my dutch coming thru... Alvar and I also spent some time looking at the large pictures of people on the wall off to the side of the church (sorry...no pictures of that), the pictures were of Moses, Paul and Augustine but they all had what looked like a patch on one eye - kind of strange but Alvar's uncle and aunt figured it was an artistic thing! (this Church used to be another denomonation, the pictures were originally from whoever worshipped there prior to the Kruiskerk). But, all in all, we were there to praise and worship God; it’s a blessing to be able to do this so far from home!

Kruiskerk Arnhem

After the service we came back home for some coffee and cake (mmm…this cake was really good too…jam packed full of fruit and some other kind of filling underneath...yum!!). We relaxed after that as the family would be arriving soon.

Enjoying some delicious cake after Church

The family came in the afternoon, and we had a good time with them all. There was close to 15 people there – a nice number, not too overwhelming! It was great to sit and talk, especially working on their English with them a bit too (it’s funny that most of them apologized for their English, meanwhile, they were 500% better than me with my non-exsitent Dutch!). We enjoyed a meal together, some lovely snert soup and also tomato soup too. Lots of delicious buns with gouda cheese and liver paste (we found out that liver paste is also a favourite out there…good thing we had plenty of cheese for Alvar and I!!. Overall it was an enjoyable afternoon – lots of catching up with the family for Alvar’s parents - again, what a gezellig way to spend a day!

Alvar's parents with Mom's side of the family