Mike and Anita James

So, when we first moved here, we bought some bicycles.  It’s not only part of the culture here, it’s kind of a necessity.  Bicycle paths everywhere make it safe, and the price of gasoline makes it more than a necessity.  I got a used bike and thought it was a steal.  I didn’t really know [...]

Things are definitely changing around here.  You can see more and more signs of autumn.  Our time changed last Sunday.  Now, when I take Grace to school, it’s not totally dark.  Unfortunately, it will be before too long since we continue to lose daylight right now.  It also gets dark much earlier.  It makes you [...]

We feel that God is leading us to start a new church in the city of Hoofddorp. We’ll be starting it with some friends of ours, Sietse and Vanessa Houtman. We’re really excited about being used by God in this new way. If you’re wondering if we will still do children’s ministry, the answer is [...]

When we got our dog, Boomer, 5 years ago, I was unaware of a subculture here in The Netherlands.  That subculture is dog owners.  I remember walking with our puppy and having strangers come up to us talking about our dog.  Normally, people here don’t do something like that; they’re much more private. We definitely [...]

I know I’m biased when it comes to The Netherlands, but honestly, I can’t believe that there is a more beautiful place in Spring.  Don’t believe me?  Here is some proof: Everyday I take our dog for a walk.  What a beautiful view I get to see and enjoy! I know what you’re thinking.  It’s [...]

We finished a series on the Fruit of the Spirit. It was a lot of fun. We recycled an old song we did years ago that taught the kids the list.  To get the actual lessons into their heads, we did some of my favorite videos so far. You can check out our youtube channel [...]

We often play “What’s Your Favorite” as a family. Generally, one person will ask a question about a favorite thing.  It could be things like what your favorite movie, tv show, song, game, etc is.  Grace often asks what our favorite season is.  Her “favorite” season is: fall (because her birthday falls during that season), [...]

Home is a relative term to many, but it does invoke certain feelings.  I just spent a week in Madrid, Spain getting great training on video editing.  I met some new friends and got to see some old ones. Living in The Netherlands, you’d think that I would love Spain more than anything – especially [...]

There are some things that we see here that we now take for granted.  When we first moved here, these things would’ve been very strange, but now, they’re normal.  Here are a couple of things I’ve seen this week: With the World Cup going on, it’s normal to see plenty of orange or Dutch flags. [...]

This is our second World Cup to experience in The Netherlands.  I can honestly say that there is nothing like it.  I’m so glad that we’re here during this.  First of all, there is orange everywhere!  The royal family is the House of Orange, so if you’ve ever seen the Dutch flag, which is red, [...]