Mike and Anita James

We’ve been so busy working on a curriculum.  We’ve done an entire series on Psalm 23.  There are so many steps to the process.  Mike writes the lessons.  Then, we video the puppets and characters for the lessons.  Next, I edit it and get the video ready.  We have friends who translate it into Dutch [...]

For Grace and me, this was our first white Christmas.  It started snowing on Thursday, 17 December and stayed over a week.
It seemed like a lot of snow to us, but on Sunday, we had much more.  Grace was able to play in the snow before we went to church.  She even had a snowball [...]

No, we don’t have major changes in our lives.  It is feeling much more like autumn here though.  Schools here had an autumn break last week, and it was so nice to have a little bit of time to relax as a family.  We were able to go to a few museums.  Here is Grace [...]

After having to have our things go through customs, we were really happy to have our things arrive in The Netherlands.  It seems like it’s been so long since we shipped it from America that I had forgotten many of the things we packed.  That’s why it felt a little like Christmas today.
We had our [...]

On Friday and Saturday, Mike attended a leaders’ weekend here in The Netherlands.  He had a wonderful time and got to reconnect with many people who work with the VPE, the church organization we work with.
On Sunday morning, we led a family Sunday at ICL, the International Church of Leiden.  It was so great to [...]

Many things are different in America than in The Netherlands.  Since we’ve already lived here, we know some of the things to expect.  I like some of the things about American stores better – mainly the prices.  And, I like some of the things about Dutch stores better.  There aren’t as many choices, and I [...]

We’re adjusting back to life in The Netherlands, and we’ve noticed that it’s happening much quicker than the first time we moved here.  One of the things we’ve had to get used to is how much smaller everything is.  Here is a drink from Whataburger in America:
Now, you need to compare it to the size [...]

We got back to The Netherlands on Friday afternoon.  We were greeted at the airport by friends.  They were cheering for us as we walked out.  It was really nice to feel welcomed.

This was a balloon some friends gave Grace.  It says Welkom Thuis/Welcome Home.  It has some very typical Dutch things on it.
When we [...]

We came into the US with 7 suitcases.  We’re leaving with a little more.  We’ll take back 6 suitcases.  That sounds better, right?  Not exactly.  We’re also shipping 6 plastic tubs on a boat.

It’s scheduled to arrive there on August 16 – just 10 days after we are.  But wait; there’s more.  We’re also mailing [...]

I can’t believe we’ve been in America for a year.  Sometimes it seems like it’s been less time than that; sometimes it seems longer.  Grace is nearly finished with her year at school.  First grade has been wonderful for her.  She’s also gotten to experience some things that she never has at school before like [...]